Norwich And Millwall Play Out Hard Fought Draw But There Were Positives

Norwich City and Millwall played out a hard fought but rather uninspiring 0-0 draw on Tuesday night, although at least the Canaries extended their unbeaten run to six games.

It was an unchanged starting line-up from Daniel Farke as he looked to play the same way that his side did when they blew away Bristol City at the weekend in that devastating first half at Ashton Gate.

However, Millwall were a much tougher nut to crack than the Robins, with the visitors continually working hard to ensure that they always had enough men behind the ball to frustrate  their hosts. As always seems to be the the way in this league, Norwich dominated possession and  moved the ball around beautifully at times but they couldn’t find a breakthrough against another determined and disciplined opponent.

Former Ipswich Town goalkeeper Bart Bialkowski was rarely troubled as he watched his teammates tough it out in front of him. Apart from a deflected save from the again excellent Lukas Rupp and watching as Placheta’s shot struck the post and then bounced back and hit him in the face, he didn’t have a lot to do in the first half.

The second half saw more of the same although Millwall did get themselves into more threatening positions as the clock reached the 80 minute mark and giant striker, Matt Smith entered the fray. In the 95th minute, Shaun Williams struck a fierce shot after a Millwall counter attack, that grazed the top of the right post with Tim Krul well beaten.

In the end, Bialkowski had to save well from both Buendia and Pukki but left with a point, something he never managed in the blue of Ipswich Town.

This was another example of a team looking to frustrate and defend against Norwich, just like Derby did, and look to catch us with a counter or a set-piece, just like Derby did. To be fair to Millwall here though, they are clearly a decent side that have a lot more about them than Derby do.

There will be those in the Canary Nation that will moan about this result, complaining that City should’ve blown Millwall away but I would take a more balanced view. Norwich continue to move the ball around well, creating chances that on another day would’ve, should’ve, could’ve seen us win this game. There are plenty of other positives as well.

The burgeoning centre back partnership between Grant Hanley and Ben Gibson was untroubled for the most part and there’s looks to be a promising understanding that gets better with each passing game.

Jacob Sorensen again looked good, standing in for Xavi Quintilla at left-back. It’s obviously a recruitment failing by Stuart Webber’s side of the business to not have specialist cover there, something that seems to have annoyed Daniel Farke a little but when you consider that Sorensen hadn’t played there before his debut at Brentford, the guy deserves plenty of credit.

Lukas Rupp and Olly Skipp have become the go-to men in the middle of the park and both were excellent here. Rupp has really shut up his critics and there’s not much moaning on social media anymore. Well done, Lukas.

Emi Buendia was busy and looked great in parts and he should’ve scored again. Teemu Pukki was busy too but didn’t have many clear cut chances, Gary Rowett is too savvy to let his men offer up chances to the Flying Finn easily. Przemyslaw Placheta came closest to winning this for Norwich but he’s still raw and I’m not 100% happy with his decision making. His pace, however, is ballistic and it adds an “X-factor” to his and our game. Hopefully the decision  making will improve as the games tick by.

OTBC

Norwich City				Millwall
Krul				Bialkowski
Aarons				Hutchinson (c)
Hanley (c)				M Wallace
Gibson				Cooper
Sorensen				Romeo
Rupp			78’	Thompson			55’
Skipp				Woods
Stiepermann			78’	Malone
Pukki				J Wallace
Buendia				Bodvarsson			80’
Placheta			77’	Ferguson			55’
Substitutes
McGovern				Fielding
Tettey				Williams			55’
Hugill			77’	Smith			80’
Vrancic			78’	Pearce
McLean			78’	Leonard
Mumba				Bennett			55’
Zimmermann				Mahoney

Game Statistics
27	Goal attempts	6
6	On Target	0
8	Corners	2
14	Fouls	10
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
61	%	39